Why is the use of alloca() not considered good pra

Question

alloca() allocates memory from Stack rather than heap which is case in malloc(). So, when I return from the routine the memory is freed. So, actually this solves my problem of freeing up of dynamically allocated memory. Freeing of memory allocated through malloc() is a major headache and if somehow missed leads to all sorts memory problems.

Why is the use of alloca() discouraged in spite of the above features?

Answer 1

Lots of interesting answers to this "old" question, even some relatively new answers, but I didn't find any that mention this....

When used properly and with care, consistent use of alloca() (perhaps application-wide) to handle small variable-length allocations (or C99 VLAs, where available) can lead to lower overall stack growth than an otherwise equivalent implementation using oversized local arrays of fixed length. So alloca() may be good for your stack if you use it carefully.

I found that quote in.... OK, I made that quote up. But really, think about it....

@j_random_hacker is very right in his comments under other answers: Avoiding the use of alloca() in favor of oversized local arrays does not make your program safer from stack overflows (unless your compiler is old enough to allow inlining of functions that use alloca() in which case you should upgrade, or unless you use alloca() inside loops, in which case you should... not use alloca() inside loops).

I've worked on desktop/server environments and embedded systems. A lot of embedded systems don't use a heap at all (they don't even link in support for it), for reasons that include the perception that dynamically allocated memory is evil due to the risks of memory leaks on an application that never ever reboots for years at a time, or the more reasonable justification that dynamic memory is dangerous because it can't be known for certain that an application will never fragment its heap to the point of false memory exhaustion. So embedded programmers are left with few alternatives.

alloca() (or VLAs) may be just the right tool for the job.

I've seen time & time again where a programmer makes a stack-allocated buffer "big enough to handle any possible case". In a deeply nested call tree, repeated use of that (anti-?)pattern leads to exaggerated stack use. (Imagine a call tree 20 levels deep, where at each level for different reasons, the function blindly over-allocates a buffer of 1024 bytes "just to be safe" when generally it will only use 16 or less of them, and only in very rare cases may use more.) An alternative is to use alloca() or VLAs and allocate only as much stack space as your function needs, to avoid unnecessarily burdening the stack. Hopefully when one function in the call tree needs a larger-than-normal allocation, others in the call tree are still using their normal small allocations, and the overall application stack usage is significantly less than if every function blindly over-allocated a local buffer.

But if you choose to use alloca()...

Based on other answers on this page, it seems that VLAs should be safe (they don't compound stack allocations if called from within a loop), but if you're using alloca(), be careful not to use it inside a loop, and make sure your function can't be inlined if there's any chance it might be called within another function's loop.

Answer 2

Most answers here largely miss the point: there's a reason why using _alloca() is potentially worse than merely storing large objects in the stack.

The main difference between automatic storage and _alloca() is that the latter suffers from an additional (serious) problem: the allocated block is not controlled by the compiler, so there's no way for the compiler to optimize or recycle it.

Compare:

while (condition) {
    char buffer[0x100]; // Chill.
    /* ... */
}

with:

while (condition) {
    char* buffer = _alloca(0x100); // Bad!
    /* ... */
}

The problem with the latter should be obvious.

Answer 3

As noted in this newsgroup posting, there are a few reasons why using alloca can be considered difficult and dangerous:

• Not all compilers support alloca.
• Some compilers interpret the intended behaviour of alloca differently, so portability is not guaranteed even between compilers that support it.
• Some implementations are buggy.

Answer 4

I don't think anyone has mentioned this: Use of alloca in a function will hinder or disable some optimizations that could otherwise be applied in the function, since the compiler cannot know the size of the function's stack frame.

For instance, a common optimization by C compilers is to eliminate use of the frame pointer within a function, frame accesses are made relative to the stack pointer instead; so there's one more register for general use. But if alloca is called within the function, the difference between sp and fp will be unknown for part of the function, so this optimization cannot be done.

Given the rarity of its use, and its shady status as a standard function, compiler designers quite possibly disable any optimization that might cause trouble with alloca, if would take more than a little effort to make it work with alloca.

Answer 5

If you accidentally write beyond the block allocated with alloca (due to a buffer overflow for example), then you will overwrite the return address of your function, because that one is located "above" on the stack, i.e. after your allocated block.

The consequence of this is two-fold:

1. The program will crash spectacularly and it will be impossible to tell why or where it crashed (stack will most likely unwind to a random address due to the overwritten frame pointer).

2. It makes buffer overflow many times more dangerous, since a malicious user can craft a special payload which would be put on the stack and can therefore end up executed.

In contrast, if you write beyond a block on the heap you "just" get heap corruption. The program will probably terminate unexpectedly but will unwind the stack properly, thereby reducing the chance of malicious code execution.

Answer 6

In my opinion, alloca(), where available, should be used only in a constrained manner. Very much like the use of "goto", quite a large number of otherwise reasonable people have strong aversion not just to the use of, but also the existence of, alloca().

For embedded use, where the stack size is known and limits can be imposed via convention and analysis on the size of the allocation, and where the compiler cannot be upgraded to support C99+, use of alloca() is fine, and I've been known to use it.

When available, VLAs may have some advantages over alloca(): The compiler can generate stack limit checks that will catch out-of-bounds access when array style access is used (I don't know if any compilers do this, but it can be done), and analysis of the code can determine whether the array access expressions are properly bounded. Note that, in some programming environments, such as automotive, medical equipment, and avionics, this analysis has to be done even for fixed size arrays, both automatic (on the stack) and static allocation (global or local).

On architectures that store both data and return addresses/frame pointers on the stack (from what I know, that's all of them), any stack allocated variable can be dangerous because the address of the variable can be taken, and unchecked input values might permit all sorts of mischief.

Portability is less of a concern in the embedded space, however it is a good argument against use of alloca() outside of carefully controlled circumstances.

Outside of the embedded space, I've used alloca() mostly inside logging and formatting functions for efficiency, and in a non-recursive lexical scanner, where temporary structures (allocated using alloca() are created during tokenization and classification, then a persistent object (allocated via malloc()) is populated before the function returns. The use of alloca() for the smaller temporary structures greatly reduces fragmentation when the persistent object is allocated.